Council of SVOO’s ‘100 Years’ exhibition at The Substation, Newport, to celebrate The Substation’s 100 year birthday.

“100 YEARS explores the diverse history, architecture and location of THE SUBSTATION building. Thirty artists from across disciplines will be in residence over four weeks, taking over the entire gallery. Working with imagery, performance, documentation, sound and installation, the artists will respond to and interpret the site in celebration and recognition of our centennial.”

The Newport Substation’s original purpose was to take power from Newport Power Station and convert it from AC to DC. This power then supplied the new metropolitan electric train network. The construction of the substation was completed in 1916 and came into operation 1919. Now the building is a contemporary art space.

I am interested in the visual, material and historic qualities of objects and their visual resonance with their current environment, as well as with their embodied history. In creating this site-specific work, I was responding to the evolution of the building: both its use and its infrastructure. The building evolved from its original purpose to supply power enabling the electrification of the train network to its new purpose as contemporary art space. In so doing, the building’s infrastructure was transformed leaving remnant elements such as the steel ladder.